Due to their low elementary separation effect, the known processes for the separation of gaseous heavy isotopes, such as the gas diffusion process, require several thousand stages which are combined into a cascade, so as to achieve the desired enrichment. The sensitive membranes as well as the enormous energy requirement to achieve a large mass throughput, constitute a significant obstacle to large scale industrial plants.
With known gas centrifuges, the improved separation effect is dependent on the absolute mass difference .DELTA.M of the isotopes and not on the relative mass difference .DELTA.M/M or its root, as is the case with the other processes. By adding a light booster or auxiliary gas and by heating the outer walls bottoms of the centrifuge, it has been attempted to attenuate occurring turbulences and to achieve multiplication of the primary radial separator phase or stage. However, not all instances yielded reproducible results. Further, the results were far below the theoretical value. The low throughput of material as well as the considerable equipment expenditure for those components of the centrifuge which are subject to high mechanical stresses, constitute significant drawbacks of this prior art procedure.
The known separator nozzle process is based on the partial spatial separation or de-mixing of isotopes of different weights in an expanding supersonic jet, whose flow areas are bent or emanate from a bent Laval nozzle. As in a centrifuge, the heavier component becomes enriched or concentrated in the vicinity of the deflector wall and can there be branched off away from the gas current or flow by a detaching or separating element, such as a sharp blade having a knife edge. Attempts have also been made to perform an improved isotope separation by means of a light auxiliary gas. This procedure, however, again requires increased energy consumption. The effectiveness or efficiency of the separator nozzle procedure corresponds substantially to that of the diffusion process.